This is Andrea from regional Australia. I’m appalled and saddened by the needless and shamefully ongoing suffering taking place in Gaza. Rather than continuing to feel frustrated and helpless, I’m aiming to raise funds for Goson, a 17 year old girl and excellent student, her 19 year old sister and their extended family of ten.

Goson is from Gaza and, like the teenage me or any young woman in the world, wants to live in peace, with a chance to study and fulfill her dreams and, above all, to feel safe.

Please help in any way you can. She could be your daughter.

Thank you.

Goson (17) and her sister Aisha (19) before the war

Goson says:

“I would like to live in a life in which there are available means and far from torture, killing and starvation. Our memories are gone, our home is destroyed, and our dreams are all gone”.

At the moment Goson family are living in the ruins of their house with some feline friends they’ve rescued. Intermittently they are forcibly relocated, staying in tents or other temporary accommodation.

“I had hoped to finish school and study further to become an engineer”, Goson says. “I am a conscientious student and have obtained good grades. My life with all its opportunities was ahead of me but it seems to have ended before it even started. I remain hopeful for a normal future”.

“My immediate family members are 7: my father, brother and sisters. Three of my relatives, my uncle, cousin and second cousin have been killed. Our house has been destroyed and my home town completely razed. Every day is a struggle but we are grateful to be alive.

“I tried to reach safety with the help of some foreign friends from different countries, and your generous donations of any size will be directed towards my goal to exit from Gaza to Egypt as the first step in regaining a normal life and access to support, adequate food and health care.

“If I’m forced to leave, I hope to return to Palestine one day to help rebuild and live happily and in peace. If you can help me, I will ensure you’ll be proud of me!

“Please don't let silence be your voice. You may feel that you can’t make any difference or that we are so far away that our lives are irrelevant. But we are normal everyday people like you, with goals and dreams, working hard, enjoying simple pleasures like being with family. This war has shown us what is most important in life and I do not need much to be happy.

“I sincerely thank you”.

Goson x

27/5/2025 UPDATE

Months have gone by and it’s difficult to know what to say. The genocide continues and the world’s leaders continue to allow it. Even the ones who have been forced to acknowledge it, whose Red Line has at last been crossed are all words and no action.

Protesting in the streets has helped raise awareness, as has sharing the horrific stories we see daily on social media.

But little has changed.

Many of us are so disillusioned with the world and its lack of humanity we are becoming reclusive. I don’t want to be around people that are ignorant, willfully or not, nor those who lack empathy. I’m disappointed in people I used to admire and respect, friends and relatives I always thought were kind and decent, who have not expressed outrage. My brother, for example, asked me what the watermelon sticker on my car symbolized. My nonagenarian mother dismisses the “war”, saying that Arabs and Jews have always hated each other. “What can you do?”

It’s depressing. It’s crippling. But we can’t stop raising money and awareness. We can’t stop agitating, until Palestinians are truly free from the shackles of Israel.

The happy news is that beautiful Goson and her family (and cat Lulu!) are alive! Goson is now 18 and should be enjoying a normal life, working towards her dreams and goals and living in safety. But she has recently been ordered to leave the ruins of the family home in Khan Younis and is displaced yet again, now living in a tent on the beach. We are in touch every few days and the family has been living on cucumbers, tomatoes and chickpeas. What little food becomes available, eg fish, is so expensive it is out of reach.

Yet Goson tells me not to be sad for her, such is her hope and faith - the only things keeping her going.

Many of us are being approached by scores of people in the same situation as Goson. It is heartbreaking not to be able to help them all. But I will continue to speak up for Goson, my very first Palestinian friend who, as a teenager living through the most tragic of conditions, has taught me more about what’s important in life than 60+ years of education and experience.

I urge you to help me continue to support Goson and her family.

Thank you!